Starting this thread for Ableton Live users to share tips & tricks. Here is mine:

Using Live 7: How to make a futuristic sounding synth with glide/octaves (PM me if you would like an example of the sound that this will produce --- )

This is achieved by dragging a new synth lead instrument from the default instruments that come with Live. Make sure it is a "lead" instrument i.e. you cannot play two notes at the same time. Edit the settings of the instrument to turn "Glide" on at about 50ms. Record a simple melody or synth part of some sort (in a high pitched octave) over two bars or more. Then, switch to a lower octave and record over the part you just recorded. Play in the same key of course, and what you will get will be a trippy sounding futuristic gliding lead synth instrument. You will be able to hear it while you play...

Nice, I started with Fruity Loops and then got into Live. Live has met all my needs thus far so I see no reason to change. Most people use it for MIDI programming, but I mostly use it for recording guitars, I have the GTR 3 guitar effects software which is AWESOME

At 8/4/12 09:34 PM, The-iMortal wrote:

At 8/4/12 09:30 PM, keepmyheadinthecloud wrote:
I tried to post the link before but got shut down by the Mod. What other DAWs have you used?

At 8/4/12 09:37 PM, keepmyheadinthecloud wrote:
Nice, I started with Fruity Loops and then got into Live. Live has met all my needs thus far so I see no reason to change. Most people use it for MIDI programming, but I mostly use it for recording guitars, I have the GTR 3 guitar effects software which is AWESOME

Nice. Wave's GTR 3, yes?

I find Live meets my needs for workflow and management more than any other DAW I've used. For instance, I don't need to fish through a list to find the knob I want to automate, I just click on the knob, and there it appears in Live's arrangement view, ready for automation tweaking. And being able to copy and paste VSTs plus their settings to different tracks is extremely useful... not to mention there's no limit of effects per track.

Yes Waves GTR 3. I record both guitar and bass through this giant bass amp turned way down and it usually gives me a nice tone. GTR isn't as good for bass though.

At 8/4/12 09:41 PM, The-iMortal wrote:

At 8/4/12 09:37 PM, keepmyheadinthecloud wrote:
Nice, I started with Fruity Loops and then got into Live. Live has met all my needs thus far so I see no reason to change. Most people use it for MIDI programming, but I mostly use it for recording guitars, I have the GTR 3 guitar effects software which is AWESOME

Nice. Wave's GTR 3, yes?

I find Live meets my needs for workflow and management more than any other DAW I've used. For instance, I don't need to fish through a list to find the knob I want to automate, I just click on the knob, and there it appears in Live's arrangement view, ready for automation tweaking. And being able to copy and paste VSTs plus their settings to different tracks is extremely useful... not to mention there's no limit of effects per track.

hmm... not sure about this. I am not like the Ableton master or anything, but I have only been able to record on 1 track at a time. You can only turn one track at a time to "Record" mode. However, if you wanted to record both on the same track, you could get a cable that conjoins the two cables (one from your guitar and one from the keyboard) into a single cable and then use the Line6 GX.

Or if there is some kind of input on the back of your KB37 that allows you to plug a guitar in and play through that while the KB37 is plugged into the GX... that would work but I doubt that is the case

Are y

At 8/5/12 04:39 PM, KittenBeat wrote:
Hi!
Does anyone happen to know if I can use audio imputs from Both my Line 6 KB37 *and* my Line6 GX at the same time in ableton? Someone told me it was possible but I have no luck so far.

Well here we go, going to attempt to write a little tutorial for how to get a nice ambient pad with just a few simple steps. I use this technique a lot when I'm feeling uninspired or just want to get a simple atmosphere down on a track I'm working on. I have had people in the past ask me how I make some of my songs sound really spacey so this sort of covers that as well.

Anyways, we are going to start with a sample. Any sample will do, but for the best results I like something with a clear pitch in it so we can later use for chords or melody. For this tutorial I'll be using this string sample. Feel free to do any sort of time stretching or repitching you like. For now I'm going to leave it as is.

Next step is to open up either a Sampler instrument, or a Simpler. I'm going to be using Sampler. Drag and drop your sample into the Sampler. Now, isolating a section of the sample like so. It can be as long or short as you like, but mine is a fraction of a section long. (You may notice your sample is fairly quiet once put into sampler. To fix this adjust the volume slider, next to where it says Sample Start)

We're going to want to loop this sample, but clicking one of the buttons under Sustain Mode. Either regular Loop or Back and Forth should do fine, but back and forth can create some cool sounding rhythms depending on the sample. Also click on one of the release modes as well. Try and capture as much of the sample as you want within the sustain modes brackets. Mine looks like this

Try holding down a C3 or whatever key you like and see how it sounds. If it is click-y and you don't want that sound, fiddle around with the crossfade setting until you get it smooth. I added a little under 4000 crossfade for both the sustain and release. Here is a sample

Next up we want to change the amp envelope. Click on Filter/Global on the top tabs on the sampler. The envelope to the far right is our volume envelope. Adjust the attack and release to your liking. Here is what mine looks like

Fiddle around with your midi keyboard (or computer keyboard) and see how it sounds. Here is a little chord, pretty interesting sounding, especially the little bloops.

The next few steps are completely optional. Feel free to add a filter and mess with the filter envelope. Clicking off the R on the bottom right of the sampler in the Filter/Global panel will stop the re-triggering of notes, which is helpful for when you're repeating chords in a midi sequence.

Finally, we are going to add effects. On the actual sampler track, all I'm adding is a simple delay, but feel free to add whatever you like. We are going to save the reverb for a return track. Next up drop whatever reverb device/vst you like onto a return track followed by an Autofilter. Change the EQ curve to the third one and position it where you like.

Now set the LFO amount up a small bit and adjust the rate small bit. Afterwards, make sure you turn the send around halfway on your Sampler track. (Turning it all the way up may cause some clipping as you are doubling the track)

There you go, a nice little ambient atmosphere made with nothing but a tiny sliver of a sample. Obviously this is very basic so experiment with different effects sends and even with Sampler. There is so much more you can do with Sampler than what was in this tutorial.

At 8/5/12 04:39 PM, KittenBeat wrote:
Hi!
Does anyone happen to know if I can use audio imputs from Both my Line 6 KB37 *and* my Line6 GX at the same time in ableton? Someone told me it was possible but I have no luck so far.

I've never done this, but I assume this is how you do it:

You'll need a sound device/sound card that has multiple inputs to connect to your computer. With your sound device, route it so each guitar is plugged into a different input. In Ableton's session view, create two audio tracks. In the "Audio From" section of the audio tracks, underneath should be two pop-down choices. The second one down (the one right underneath "Ext. in"), select the correct input. Do the same with the other audio track, but that will be for a different input.

Now, to be able to hear both instruments live through Live, go to arrangement view. Now, click on the arm for record button (on the very right) of one of your audio tracks. Now, press control as you click on the other audio track. Voila, both tracks are armed for record and you record them at the same time, as well as hear them both live at the same time.

At 8/5/12 05:50 PM, SineRider wrote:
There you go, a nice little ambient atmosphere made with nothing but a tiny sliver of a sample. Obviously this is very basic so experiment with different effects sends and even with Sampler. There is so much more you can do with Sampler than what was in this tutorial.

Nice tut. I haven't really tried out any of Live's stock plugins, so I'll have to give this a shot.

These are VERY basic (but might help someone, who knows) as I just started using Ableton recently. But, here's a couple tricks I figured out that really helped me if I ever wanted to make lots of clips easily, then manipulate them to make songs-

(in arrangement view)

Clip Snatching
Once You've got your instrument(s) playing a clip. Drop in a blank audio track, and set it's record to armed if it's not already on. Then, set the audio track's input (drop down) to whichever instrument you prefer. Now set the track's record on, and play your instrument(s). The audio track will record your instrument(s). This way you won't have to export it, then re-import it via .wav file, etc.

Impulse clips/sampling
Once you've done the above, or have a clip you want to pull samples from in your audio / arrangement view. Go into your instrument rack and pull impulse (the top teir 'folder', not child items) into your arrangement as a new item. You'll notice it's blank, so find your audio track. You can highlight a part of it, then click & hold (the header area, not the waveform area, or it won't work). You might need to select your Impulse again after you select it. Then drag the clip down into one of the empty squares. When you play it, it will play the clip you just pulled. You can rename it, repeat as necessary, and make an entire clip set. Just drag the impulse instrument into the folder, name it whatever you want and use it later.

Let me know if this helps anyone, I've got other things to share, but don't want to if everyone already knows these things...